New Alien Species Idea

deacon

Post subject: New Alien Species Idea

Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2018 9:09 pm

Brood Brother

Joined: Wed Jan 10, 2007 10:26 pmPosts: 2034Location: Melbourne, FL

Hello Taccom peeps,

I'm planning on releasing a ruleset and possibly a starter set in the fall/winter. I've been thinking hard about the Onslaught universe, and the "feel" it should have. One major part of any sci-fi setting are all the cool alien races running around - how they look, their culture, and in the case of wargames - how they fight.

One thing I'd like to try, is to make the aliens of the Onslaught universe more, well, ALIEN. It's typical to see aliens that are just a variation on our own human forms to one degree or another. Even species with multiple limbs usually stick to the same basic setup in regards to where all the anatomy is placed on the body. I'd imagine that creatures from a completely different world would look radically different to ourselves - and that's what I'd like to push for. Something interesting, relatable, yet wholly different from humans.

I sketched for quite a while to come up with something - it was incredibly difficult to break out of the design box I feel so comfortable in when coming up with new aliens, but in the end I managed to come up with a few cool concepts. This is my favorite:

As you can see, there's some familiarity here - but its certainly not a humanoid. It's body is protected by an exoskeleton, especially it's large head which is packed with sensory organs. It has a single "arm" with two fingers - capable of delicate manipulations. This arm is flanked by two corded tentacles that protrude from the exoskeleton. These tentacles are very strong, and can extend quite a distance - it's these tentacles that are generally used to lift and carry things, leaving the arm to manipulate buttons, triggers, and the like. The "Legs" of the creature are positioned high on its torso, and are long and powerful, allowing for great strides and bursts of speed when needed. Each leg also ends in an exposed, but thickly skinned Tentacle. These tentacles are flat like a tapeworm, and are incredibly strong. These too are able to extend and grasp things as the creatures moves - and can even be used to deliver powerful blows and constricting holds when in desperate situations. While fully capable of walking on the ground, this creature is more at home hanging from structures overhead.

So I thought it would be fun to take this basic outline to the Taccom community and brainstorm the rest of the details about this alien race and see what we can come up with. I'm curious what ideas will present themselves!

Examples:- What type of society do these creatures have? Is it unified, or are there factions among the population?- How does it communicate?- Is it psychic or possess any otherworldly powers?- Is it religious? If so - what does it believe?- How does it perceieve the world around it?- What level of technology does it possess? Can it travel through space? If so - how, and to what degree?- What is this creatures native environment like?- How would this creature wage war?- What is this creatures life cycle like?- How did humans come into contact with this species, and what is the status of current relations?

Perception / Senses - Sight:These creatures possess a highly evolved set of sensory organs. They have 3 sets of eyes, with each sensitive to a different wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum - this includes all light from ultraviolet to infrared, xrays, and radio / microwaves. Each set of eyes can be closed and/or dilated independently, allowing the creature to isolate a single wavelength, a limited range of wavelengths, or overlay multiple broad wavelengths on top of one another. When observing their surroundings - these creatures constantly open, dilate, and close these sets of eyes, allowing them to take in incredible amounts of information.

Perception / Senses - Hearing:This creatures sense of hearing is also incredibly developed. Like their eyes, they have 3 sets of auditory organs. Their audible frequency range is much broader than that of a human - or any creature on the Earth for that matter. In addition - each set of auditory organs can perceive a different range of audio intensities clearly, and without distortion or discomfort to the creature. The openings to each set of "ears" can be opened or closed at will via muscular contractions to suit the creatures needs. However, each set of ears will involuntarily close when presented with intensities which would result in discomfort or damage to the organ.

Perception / Senses - Taste:The two sets of tentacles on this creature contain gustatory organs - or taste buds. This means that the creature basically "tastes" everything it comes into physical contact with. While this may sound abhorrent to humans - these creatures lack any sense of aversion or attraction to this sense, and it merely adds to the incredible amount of information they process about their surroundings. This creatures sense of taste is also incredibly complex - allowing them to detect even the slightest of differences from one object to another, or even pick out individual components of complex tastes.

Perception / Senses - Smell:Like it's other senses, this creature has a highly evolved sense of smell, and has three sets of Olfactory organs, each with a different function. Like their other organ sets, each can be opened or closed at will to isolate a single set, or multiple sets can be used in unison. The primary "nose" can perceive odors much like a human, but with a far higher degree of acuity. Complex smells can be easily analyzed and individual sources identified with ease, especially when paired with the creatures sense of taste via their tentacle limbs. The second set is attuned to trace scents only - subtle, slight, and sometimes incredibly distant odors can be perceived by the creature. This allows the creature to know where someone or something has been and roughly how long ago. It can pick up odorous changes in their environment - even at some distance, essentially allowing them to vaguely perceive events happening far away. In fact, so acute is this sense of smell, that it often leads outsiders to believe the creature possesses psychic or supernatural abilities. The third set of Olfactory organs is used to perceive and analyze pheromones, which is a critical aspect of the creatures ability to communicate with others of their species. While the creature does produce audible sounds as part of their language, inflection and meaning is expressed using involuntarily released pheromones. Everything the creature feels or thinks is expressed in a subtle mixture of smells, that other members of the species can easily identify. This means that deception, at least among members of their own race, is entirely impossible - as any intent or feeling is broadcast involuntarily, and constantly. In addition - each individual has their own subtle, but unique scent that can be perceived by others - even at a great distance.

Consider aliens NOT using limbs/legs to support them when effected by gravity of their home planet. Instead of legs, they evolved into floting lifforms. They make use of orgas filled with gas to keep them floating. Like fish do in water. Fish have floating organs too.

Then evolve these life forms into intelliget beings that create civilizations with tech. Their transports will be different, weapons will be different, they willcreate/desing their thech from the FLOATING viewpoint. Grav-guns, skimmer, ....

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